Now-cleared ‘Broadview 6’ immigration protesters seek evidence of White House pressure to indict

CHICAGO — Attorneys for the now-cleared “Broadview Six” defendants are seeking any possible evidence of pressure from White House officials on the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago to secure an indictment against the group of Democratic activists, local elected officials and candidates this past fall.

The defendants, who were indicted in October after attending an immigration protest in the early weeks of the Trump administration’s Chicago-focused Operation Midway Blitz mass deportation campaign, had been set to face trial late last month. But trial was abruptly canceled, and all charges dropped, in the face of alleged prosecutorial misconduct in front of the grand jury.

Read more: ‘Broadview 6’ trial canceled as prosecutors acknowledge misconduct before grand jury | After misconduct accusation in ‘Broadview 6’ case, former lead prosecutor fired from new D.C. job

In a filing late Thursday afternoon, defense attorneys asked U.S. District Judge April Perry for permission to conduct discovery to reveal communications and any other evidence that would explain how the group went from six protesters among a crowd of hundreds and to those defendants facing a rare felony conspiracy charge.

They also indicated their intention to seek evidence of what they called a “cover-up” of the alleged prosecutorial misconduct from the former lead assistant U.S. attorney on the case, which was only discovered in the eleventh hour before trial when Perry read unredacted transcripts from prosecutors’ multi-day efforts to secure an indictment from grand jurors.

“The requested discovery is essential to guarantee the Defendants a full and fair opportunity to demonstrate the bad faith, vexatious, and/or frivolous nature of this misguided prosecution,” the filing read.

Read more: U.S. attorney acknowledges speech to ‘Broadview 6’ grand jury as calls for his resignation mount | ‘Broadview 6’ defense accuses Chicago’s top federal prosecutor of having contact with grand jury | Remaining ‘Broadview Six’ protesters set for rare federal misdemeanor trial next week

Among evidence sought by the former defendants: Any “documents, communications and records,” including emails, texts and cellphone data, between now-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche or his direct report, Aakash Singh, and U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros’ office in Chicago.

The filing also outlined evidence the former defendants are seeking to prove what they called a “seven-month cover-up” of the alleged prosecutorial misconduct in front of the grand jury “that culminated with multiple federal prosecutors actively concealing” the alleged misconduct from Perry.

In an extraordinarily rare move last month, Boutros himself appeared in Perry’s courtroom to announce the charges would be dropped and take responsibility for prosecutors’ behavior. Since then, a growing number of prominent Illinois Democrats have called for Boutros’ resignation;  U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth issued a joint statement demanding the same on Tuesday, saying the U.S. attorney’s office under Boutros “has been riddled with chaos, deep internal dysfunction, and alleged misconduct.” That was followed by similar calls by U.S. Reps. Mike Quigley, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Jan Schakowsky later in the week.

Read more: Conspiracy charge dismissed for ‘Broadview 6’ as other ICE protesters sue over DNA collection | ‘Broadview 6’ defense accuses feds of keeping grand jury transcripts secret, reneging on dropping conspiracy charge | Feds say they’ll drop conspiracy charge against remaining ‘Broadview Six’ protesters

But on Thursday, Blanche came to Boutros’ defense, writing in a social media post that since taking office 14 months ago, the U.S. attorney “has steadfastly advanced President Trump’s mission to make Chicago and Northern Illinois safe for the American people.”

Blanche cited an increase in indictments in the Northern District of Illinois and named prominent defendants charged during his term, including the undocumented immigrant charged with the murder of 18-year-old Loyola University Chicago student Sheridan Gorman in March.

“This Department fully supports U.S. Attorney Boutros and his efforts to combat violent crime, drug trafficking, immigration violations, and fraud, and we look forward to more great work from his office,” Blanche’s statement concluded.

In response, Boutros thanked Blanche “for his strong and unwavering support” in a social media post that blasted previous leadership of the Chicago U.S. attorney’s office as “doing less than even the bare minimum” before he took over.

The office has bled talent in the last year, with an unprecedented exodus of prosecutors, including most section chiefs in the criminal division. Two of those section chiefs, former assistant U.S. attorneys Amarjeet Bhachu and Sarah Streicker, helped bring down political kingpins including ex-Chicago Ald. Ed Burke and ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Boutros’ statement thanked those who he said “have shown me unconditional support and encouragement during this time.”

“I am grateful to all of you, and I will not forget how you all stood by me when others capitalized on the opportunity to attempt to destabilize the Office, distract us from our mission, and wreak discord among our once-united AUSA and law enforcement community under the guise that they love or even really care about this incredible and storied Office,” he wrote.

As the case was collapsing late last month, Perry told defense attorneys that she would entertain briefings “and perhaps a hearing on the issue of vindictive prosecution,” based on what she’d learned from the grand jury transcripts.

Defense lawyers had already tried to proceed on a similar theory earlier this year, but their claims were focused on whether the Department of Justice had communications about the case with White House officials. When prosecutors in March assured the judge there weren’t, she dismissed the motion.

But Perry told prosecutors that the trust she normally extended to them “has been broken” both by what she read in the grand jury transcripts, and because it had previously been obscured from her in redacted transcripts the government gave her.

“We all took the government attorneys’ word on a great many things,” Perry said. “I, at the time, was operating on a presumption of regular grand jury proceedings, which these were very clearly not. So based upon what I’ve seen in the grand jury transcripts, the calculus has changed and it has changed considerably.”

The former defendants’ request to see any communications from Singh is notable for his involvement in another high-profile collapse of an immigration-related case recently — that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last year. Albrego Garcia’s case became a flashpoint for the Trump administration when a federal judge ordered he be returned to the U.S. Upon his return, he was hit with charges alleging he smuggled undocumented immigrants stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.

But those charges were dismissed last month, with a federal judge in Nashville ruling that there was enough evidence to conclude “presumptive vindictiveness” from the DOJ had led to the charges against Abrego Garcia because his wrongful deportation embarrassed the Trump administration.

The Broadview Six defense attorneys cited communications between Singh and top prosecutors involved not just in Abrego Garcia’s case, but also recent indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and former CNN journalist Don Lemon.

“First, publicly available reporting indicates that Mr. Singh has played a central role in guiding the prosecution of ‘top administration targets such as Kilmar Abrego Garcia, James Comey, and Don Lemon’ and, of particular note here, in seeking ‘to dismiss [grand] jurors who presented hurdles’ when ‘grand juries refused to indict … following mass street arrests,’” a footnote in Thursday’s filing read.

Singh was also the subject of a New York Times story in March that detailed internal directives from the DOJ to prosecutors to aggressively pursue charges against immigration protesters. Singh was quoted as telling deputies on a January conference call to “go big … and go loud” in order to garner headlines about such indictments. He also was quoted as directing local U.S. attorneys’ offices to be “bounding” federal agents to make cases.

In a statement Thursday, Chris Parente, a lawyer for one of the former Broadview Six defendants, said the group is seeking evidence about how the indictment was secured because “the public has a right to know exactly what happened in the cover-up of the grand jury misconduct by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago.”

“We also need to know whether or not the orders to pursue this sham political prosecution came from Washington, and how closely officials in the main Department of Justice were tracking or encouraging developments in this case,” he said.

Parente, a former federal prosecutor himself, represents Oak Park village trustee Brian Straw. He cited Boutros’ recent sentiment that it is “’important’ that career prosecutors involved in this case be ‘given an opportunity to explain their side of the story’ to prove they ‘acted in good faith.’”

“While we agree, we also know that this USAO has forfeited the privilege of the presumption of good faith, and we are seeking the necessary facts to resolve any outstanding questions about the government’s actions and intent,” Parente said. “We will not stop until we get answers and those who engaged with or oversaw a miscarriage of justice are no longer in positions of public trust.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.